The Mere Intellectual Assent Fallacy

by alexd281

Ever hear someone say faith is not mere intellectual assent? Ever hear them attempt to argue faith is something you do in both your head and your heart? It was Karl Barth who began pushing Soren Kierkegaard’s existentialism like a drug dealer to the masses. Ever since we have had to counter this ridiculous notion that faith is not mere intellectual assent. The existentialist invented the head/heart dichotomy. While Christ told us the thoughts of the heart proceed from the mouth, the existentialist tells us the heart might know what the head doesn’t, and vice-versa.

The word “heart” is a polysemy. A polysemy is a word with many different meanings. The word “light” is a polysemy. Light can refer to the intensity of brightness, to an object’s weight, to one’s mood, to the act of setting fire, or even to a person’s sanity, such as in “he’s a little light…